


The Headache

by Batjokespirkylux



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:47:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26821618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Batjokespirkylux/pseuds/Batjokespirkylux
Summary: Spending most mornings waking up with an awful headache and swollen eyes isn't something Ed is used to - and certainly not something that equips him to woo Lee Thompkins as he hopes to do. Oh, and The Riddler keeps leaving Ed messages in his sleep. Ed isn't sure what it means - but the penguin and the broken heart left on his mirror this morning keep repeating in his mind.Silly little fic series - might get a little bit spicier as it goes on hence the teen rating.
Relationships: Oswald Cobblepot/Edward Nygma
Comments: 2
Kudos: 41





	1. Chapter 1

The Headache  
Ed awoke with a horrendous headache. He reluctantly sat up and looked around his little flat in Cherry’s Place. He moved his head slightly and instantly regretted his decision. The popping noise nearly made him gag. Whatever The Riddler had been doing last night had certainly not done wonders for his spine.  
Or his room, evidently.  
Almost everything in his room was not where it should be. His pillow, for example, was half way across the room. That explained the neck pain. Mug upon mug sat in a comical tower on his dressing unit. He hated how much The Riddler loved coffee. When he exhaled he could taste the stale beans. Attractive.  
He climbed off of his mattress on the floor and reminded himself that if he was going to continue his double life he should at least remember to change his clothes before going to bed – so that The Riddler didn’t wear everything he wanted to wear the next day in advance.  
His desk was covered in loose sheets of paper which looked as if they’d been thrown in the vague vicinity of his bedroom. The Riddler’s scrawl covered almost every single one of them – half-formed riddles with increasingly frustrated doodles of Lee being killed my one thing or another.  
Wow, The Riddler really didn’t like Lee.  
Ed knew that his alter ego wasn’t really a fan of romantic relationships, but The Riddler’s obsession with killing Lee Thompkins was a little baffling, even knowing how crazy that guy was.  
He caught his own reflection in the mirror and noted that his face looked a little puffy – his eyes were red and swollen. Allergies?  
Ed shrugged and went into his bathroom.  
The bathroom at Cherry’s was shared with Grundy, so Ed liked to get up early to beat the monster to it. Fortunately today he had been successful, and was able to brush his teeth without having to hold his nose. He paused in front of the mirror and saw another ‘riddle’.  
Except this wasn’t really a riddle.  
It was a drawing of a penguin, in toothpaste. A little broken heart next to it.  
Ed frowned.  
An odd riddle.  
Ice cold heart?  
Penguin heart break?  
He shrugged and wiped the drawing off. Then wiped it again. And again. Toothpaste doesn’t come off easily you know.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ed gets ready for his date with Lee - the Riddler confuses him a little more.

Ed turned the temperature as high as he could in the pathetic excuse for a shower. The ‘athletes’ used this one and mud and blood never seemed to fully wash away, no matter how much he scrubbed. He didn’t really mind – it reminded him of showering at the GCPD after Jim Gordon. He frowned at the internal mention of Jim’s name.  
His new romance with Lee had rekindled his interest in hating Jim Gordon.  
Ed did think, as he washed his hair, how of course he had got used to showering in finer showers than this. The one at Oswald’s was stunning. Gorgeous old pipes that had been buffed and polished. Marble walls and floor. Heated floor. Oswald had taste, he had to give him that. When he’d complained about the steam, Oswald had installed little heaters in the mirror, so that when Ed got out there was a nice clear patch about eye level that meant he could brush his teeth and style his hair.  
Oswald never had asked for his height.  
Speaking of mirrors, that stupid clue was bothering him now. He towel dried his hair as he pondered its meaning. Maybe it had something to do with Oswald, but why was The Riddler still mentioning old concerns? Yes, Oswald had been heartbroken – but he’d gotten over it by now! Something inside him ached slightly, then, and if he hadn’t known any better he’d have said it was his heart.   
Ed went downstairs to meet Lee for breakfast. She had found a new café place outside of town and he’d promised to take her there. She had smiled at the idea and pencilled it in to her diary. He hadn’t believed she’d actually go until she had changed the sign on the clinic to opening at 11am rather than the usual 8. A proper amount of time for a date. Not necessarily the length of date Ed would have liked, but he tried to respect her boundaries.  
And the idea of following Jim Gordon’s performance in bed did slightly terrify him.  
Not that anyone would ever know that. Ed himself barely admitted it.   
Lee was waiting by the door. Her hair seemed to get longer every day, and Ed admired the way it framed her face and shoulders. She was talking to a mother who had caught her on her way in, asking advice about her children who had been injured fighting at school.  
“I like her hair – I’ve always liked brunettes” The Riddler smirked in the mirror to his right.   
“What are you talking about?” Ed gave in, looking at The Riddler “We’ve never dated a brunette before.” Kristin and Isabella were both fair haired after all. The Riddler rolled his eyes.   
“What’s that supposed to mean?”   
The Riddler opened his mouth and said with a smile.  
“You know exactly who I’m talking about”. Ed was about to reply when he felt a hand on his shoulder.  
“Ed – you ready to go?” Lee’s smile distracted him for a moment.  
“Of course.”  
He linked arms with her and left Cherry’s place. Edward Nygma. With Lee Thompkins on his arm. What a twist of fate.   
He just wished this headache would go away.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay life has suddenly got hectic - this was a fun distraction from my mountain of work. Ed has a realisation while at breakfast with Lee.

The Headache, Part 3

Ed tried not to think about his lack of sleep and talk to Lee the way she deserved to be spoken to – with his full attention. He nodded along to her conversation about how they were going to improve the school system in the narrows and tried not to let his cynicism show through. Someone has optimistic as Lee had been recently was painful to discourage, even if he really did doubt whether transforming the narrows was a real possibility. He was still nodding when she stopped talking. Even a little while after. 

Lee narrowed her eyes at the man in front of her. Ed looked a little more off than usual today. His hair wasn’t quite sitting right, and his eyes looked swollen. There was this distant look in his eyes that she knew all too well. If she thought about Jim in the early hours of the morning, she’d get the same feeling. But his manner didn’t match his appearance, he seemed confused not sad. 

“Something on your mind, Ed?” She asked, sipping her coffee. Ed had insisted on guessing her order, and she hadn’t the heart to tell him she was trying to cut the caffeine.   
“Absolutely, great idea” Ed said, looking around the restaurant as if trying to solve a puzzle. She laughed without meaning to. He looked at her finally and blinked, as if coming back into the present.   
“Sorry, Lee, I…” He didn’t know what to say.  
“Is it him again?”   
“Him?”  
“The Riddler, I mean”. Lee always dealt with The Riddler with a logical calm that Ed found somehow calming and anxiety inducing at the same time.   
“Yes. He’s… becoming more active. But in ways I can’t understand.”  
“I’ve never understood him. I thought that was his deal.”  
“No, no. He wants to be understood. He wants to confuse at first but… if the riddles can’t be solved what’s the point of them? He normally gives me things to solve… puzzles in my sleep… but normally he wants me to solve them. I can’t solve this one.”  
“Anything I can help with?”

For a moment, he was going to tell Lee about the penguin and the heart. But something stopped him. A sudden feeling of embarrassment. Of some higher understanding he hadn’t had before. He felt like a teenager again. He had a sudden memory of telling Miss Ferrara, his high school maths teacher, how he fancied her. Her face, looking at him in awkward astonishment. The laughter from his friends when he told them. The feeling in his stomach like he had swallowed a lead balloon. He hadn’t known then what he had done wrong. Why he had been rejected so coldly. Why did the feeling of shame come back now? The humiliation he’d felt that day. Why did he feel like a teenager again?

As if sexuality was still a revelation to him. As if he was admitting something for the first time. 

Ed gasped and threw back his chair.


End file.
